By the early 1960s, for example, a dozen Hewlett-Packard executives set up a business-based “drinking club.” Each man promised to keep his door and ears open to electronics entrepreneurs and paid monthly “dues” of about $100. At the monthly “meeting,” held at one or another fellow’s home, the group would share a few drinks, and anyone who had heard of an exciting investment opportunity would talk about it. The group would then decide how much, if any, of their pooled money to invest in the company. After a half-dozen years, this little drinking group—which adopted the name “Page Mill
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